and our team of -- our country's team over there did a great job. it's a difficult situation. the united states has to be strong in order to make sure that we can help promote peace and security and stability. and that means keeping our military strong. now, i said earlier that we are the strongest military, but we need to continue improving readiness and making sure that our military personnel are adequately paid and that the combination of their pay and their benefits and their retirement as veterans is comparable to the stiff competition that's coming in this strong economy from the private sector. and i have supported the largest pay raise in many a year, and i support another one now. i also support modernization of our strategic and tactical weaponry. the governor has proposed skipping a generation of technology. i think that would be a mistake, because i think one of the ways we've been able to be so successful in kosovo and bosnia and haiti and in other places is by having the technological edge. you know, we won that conflict in kosovo without losing a single human li